Ultra Off-Road 2019: Alaska Review (Switch)

Game: Ultra Off-Road 2019: Alaska
Genre: Car Simulation/Driving
System: Nintendo Switch (also Steam)
Developers|Publishers: IceTorch Interactive | Ultimate Games S.A.
Price: US $18.99 | AU $27.00 | CA $ 21.36|£16.19 | €17.99
Age Rating: EU | AU G | US E
Release Date: 25th October

Review code used thanks to Ultimate Games S.A.

Fuel Barrels

Ultra Off-Road Alaksa is an off road driving game, that can feel almost like a car survival game. You drive across different routes of two maps set in Alaska. You need to make it to the end of the route with what fuel (both car and food for your driver) you can find, while preventing damage.

The pick-ups all float in place which looks quite off in comparison to the rest of the game. At first I found the physics to be mostly realistic as I was able to tip the vehicle over in the first minute, yet another time I rolled off a cliff without suffering severe damage. Sometimes I could get completely stuck, while others my vehicle would lift itself up without issue. Your hunger, fuel and damage levels have numbers, using food, fuel and tools you can fill them back up. Otherwise the car will stop or your vision will decrease severely.

The routes have various trails but they don’t lead you straight to the goal as some loop back or go completely elsewhere. Off the path you are supposed to be on, you’ll find there really isn’t much to enjoy, you might find a pile of food or fuel but it’s usually not worth how far you’ve taken yourself from the goal.

Free Driving

This game has a few options, including six different vehicles that are in a menu you pick before loading a level. There are a range of tuning options for your vehicles which can be changed at any time within a level.

If you turn free driving on before a level, then you can proceed as normal but will not need to collect fuel or worry about damage. That said, you could still get yourself stuck on top of a mountain with no way to go but the title screen.

Paint Job

I found the graphics to be not very good and the range of vision is quite small. It looks about the same both handheld and docked. There’s also no first person view, and even changing the minimal options I was often struggling with the camera. Which is a terrible thing especially when driving around mountain tops or trying to navigate. Outside of the looping menu music sound is minimal, most of what you’ll hear is the loud sounds of the car.

When you have cleared a route, the game will take you to the next one, but if you exit it will say start new game. Don’t worry as it has saved that you’ve unlocked the next one. Saving is a bit tricky, while in a level you can save.  To get to it again you’ll have to load back into the same level from the menu, which will take you to the start of the level. While in the same level you can open load and that will take you to your save.

Overall

While the game has an interesting concept I felt it was disappointing. Neither the driving or the presentation is very good.

Verdict: I don’t like it